


Those the War Forgot – Arc One: Freelancer

by CanineR7A7



Series: Those the War Forgot [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Allison Lives, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But he's trying, Carolina is mentioned but doesn't appear in this fic, Carolina isn't part of Freelancer, Other, Other than FILSS, The Director and Texas think Carolina is dead, The Director is still a bit dickish, The project is actually focused on the war, There are no AIs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-05 11:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15862602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanineR7A7/pseuds/CanineR7A7
Summary: Years after she was presumed dead, Allison Church returned only to find her child died years ago. Now Allison works alongside her husband to lead Project Freelancer, soldiers tasked with taking down rogue agents, but not everything is as it seems; Allison never forgot her child, a fact that comes back to haunt her when a dangerous group emerges from the shadows.





	1. Chapter 1

Cover work by DesertWolf27:


	2. Chapter 1 – Memories Are All That Remain

There were two photos in the top drawer of her desk, both of them faded and worn, she could have easily kept digital copies but she preferred the physicality of the originals. One showed her and her husband; him missing his blazer with his tie not-quite undone around a messy shirt-collar, her in her military fatigues after another lengthy assignment. She didn’t look at either of them; instead her gaze turned to the young child perched on her father’s shoulders, red strands falling in front of unnatural green eyes. She knew Leonard blamed himself for what happened to her, but she doesn’t know what he did. The UNSC may not realise it, but Freelancer was created in the young child’s memory, she gently put the image back and looked at the second one. The child was two years older, five, grinning next to a golden-eyed boy with black hair; Anderson had been a good child and Allison frowned sadly when she remembered his parents had been killed a few years before she returned, he would’ve been absorbed into the system by then, moved on to a new town – maybe he wound up in Chicago, even back then he’d been in love with the place.

“Ma’am?” A voice called from her door. She placed the photos back in her drawer and locked it before picking up her helmet, she could’ve easily lead Freelancer from behind a desk like her husband but she’d never been one for standing by while her troops got gunned down, not that that would happen to the Freelancers. She opened the door to see York waiting for her, the man could’ve easily been Anderson but she knew he wasn’t, to York Anderson was just a name.

“What is it York?” She kept a professional distance from them during missions but tried to interact with them during their downtime, it was hard to forge bonds with them while maintaining the barrier that would prevent her judgement from clouding if something happened to them, but it was something she was used to doing. She knew the others were different; they either became your closest friends or avoided you at all costs.

“The Director wanted to see you Ma’am, he didn’t give a reason.” She nodded to him and headed off, the others knew she was one of their leaders but they didn’t know about her relationship with the Director. She found his office easy enough and just walked in; if he’d sent for her there wouldn’t be anyone with him. He was sat at his desk, eyes locked on the panel in front of him; she didn’t need to look at it to know what was on it.

“Leonard?” He glanced at her but it felt as though he didn’t see her, he probably didn’t, probably wouldn’t see anyone today.

“It was my fault.” He rasped, she closed her eyes, she hated when he blamed himself for anything. Sure, she may not know what he’d done to think it was his fault; he always sidestepped it when asked.

“If it was anyone’s fault, it’s mine.” She knew that technically she had nothing to do with whatever happened, she couldn’t have come back from that mission any better, but she knew what grief did to Leonard. His eyes snapped to hers, denial overwhelming the guilt.

“No, you weren’t there.”

“Exactly.” Because if she had been there she would’ve been able to stop whatever had happened between her husband and her daughter, she wasn’t naïve enough to say for certain that she’d have been able to help Anderson as well but it was a nice thought.

“There’s no use in going over this again.” Leonard sighed, she knew how he felt, it hurt her to think about it too. He activated the main screen, bringing up an image of an abandoned UNSC base. They couldn’t afford to think about has-beens now, not when they had a responsibility to the Freelancers.

“We’ve uncovered a small squadron of soldiers hiding out in that base, UNSC.” She knew, logically, that she should be used to this kind of work but it still angered her how many times they had to deal with a rogue unit. She donned her helmet and sent an alert to the two who would join her, Leonard didn’t need to go into details with her; he just needed to show her where she was going. She allowed herself five seconds to dwell on her anger; it didn’t help that the last time they dealt with a rogue unit York had lost his eye. She entered the hangar and quickly took her place on the Pelican, soon the voices of the other two washed over her.

“How many people go rogue on a daily basis? Seriously? Why join if you’re just gonna run?” She smiled slightly to herself, Wash was the new agent and hadn’t gotten used to being sent out as often as he is.

“What does it matter? They’re traitors now, even if the Covenant don’t want any info they’re carrying there are still countless organisations out there who’ll snap it up.” South wasn’t as much of a realist as her girlfriend but that was one thing Allison could agree with. She wasn’t given any more time to think about the Freelancers, the pelican lifted off and thoughts about the newest assignment swam around her head.


	3. Chapter 2 - The Brand

The clearing they landed in was scorched, the surrounding trees little more than burnt twigs, they waited for the pelican to leave before looking around – best to keep their only way home out of hostile reach.

“What happened here?” Wash asked, battle-rifle loosely clutched in his hand, normally Texas would reprimand him for lowering his guard so much but she was similarly affected. South merely raised her shotgun and headed towards the least damaged trees, Texas quickly snapped out of her thoughts and hurried after her, Washington trailing behind her. She couldn’t say for certain how long they’d been walking for until they reached their target.

“What’s the plan Texas?” She held back a smile at the amount of time it took him to realise her camouflage was active, South on the other hand, failed spectacularly at holding her laugh.

“I’ll search the perimeter, move in on my signal.” She was about to head off when Wash spoke again.

“Wait what’s the signal?” She felt a smirk form on her face; the others had long since stopped asking that question.

“A whole lot of screaming.”

“And weapon-fire.” She didn’t wait to hear Washington’s reply to South’s comment, the sooner they’d dealt with the rogues, the sooner they could get back. As she drew nearer she could clearly see signs that the base had been abandoned for a long time, the walls were cracked and faded, the metal support beams overcome with rust.

“That’s odd.” She’d been scouting the outside for five minutes, usually she would run into someone before then, she sent an alert to the others’ helmets to avoid springing any possible traps. They made their way over to her quickly, obviously not expecting the more subtle signal.

“What’s going on Boss?” Texas was one of few higher-ups who didn’t mind being informally addressed, probably the main reason South actually followed her orders, a fact Leonard teases her about constantly.

“It’s quiet, too quiet.” She grabbed her dual SMGs and crept over to the main entrance, the other two following her lead. The door opened as they approached it, a loud screeching grating against their ears as the mechanism worked.

“There’s no-one there.” They stepped into the hallway, turning their helmet lights on when it became clear the lights weren’t automated.

“I’m guessing this used to be a storage facility, judging by the age, they were the only military building that didn’t have automated lights.” She didn’t ask how Wash knew that, it didn’t matter, either way the information was useful.

“Let’s go, we’re not gonna find our rogue squadron by standing around.” South ran off, Texas shook her head; the younger agent probably had the least amount of patience out of all of them. They hurried after her, not noticing the figure watching them from the shadows.

“South, wait.” She yelled as South disappeared behind the door at the end of the hallway they’d just turned into.

“Tex, you’re gonna want to see this.” She hurried over with Wash, quickly darting through the door South had gone through, her breath caught at the sight.

“Well, we found our squad.” She only wished they found them alive, the five of them were sprawled across the room; they looked as though they had been torn apart. One had his arm ripped off his body, another had a rusty spike protruding from his ribs – organ tissue wrapped around it – the armour of one had been melted to the support beam behind him, another’s body crushed beneath an old supply crate; most disturbingly, the leader’s helmet lay shattered near a table where his headless body was slumped.

“Ma’am, look at this.” She headed over to Wash, brow furrowing at what she saw. A strange emblem had been branded to the wall – a crescent with five spikes protruding from the outer curve, steadily getting larger as they went down, a pair of crossed knives lay between the two crescent points. This wasn’t looking good.

“Hey!” A commotion was heard from the direction they came, the three of them darted out only to watch an armoured figure climbing into a jeep.

“Hold it right there.” South yelled, pointing her shotgun at the vehicle. The jeep started, sending dirt flying towards their helmets, Texas prepped her speed enhancement.

“South, see if you can find anything useful from the base. Wash, contact extraction and let the Director know what’s going on. I’ll deal with them.” She didn’t wait for the others to speak as she darted off, barely managing to keep up with the vehicle that had obviously been heavily modified. She was so busy focusing on maintaining her speed that she didn’t notice the gravity hammer until she was launched away from the jeep. She felt her shoulder smack into a tree, sending her body down a slope.

“Texas.”

“Tex.”

“Ma,am.”

“Agent Texas, please respond.”


	4. Chapter 3 - Turning Of The Gears

She groaned as she came to, body aching and shoulder feeling the way the punching bags must when Maine was finished with them.

“Ma’am, Ma’am wake up.” She felt a hand on her shoulder, thankfully not the one that chose to fight a tree, she lifted her head to see Wash’s visor.

“Next time I try to fight a gravity hammer and a tree at full speed, tell me not to.” She commented as she stood up, head spinning at the sudden movement.

“Uh, sure.” The confusion was obvious in his voice but she didn’t bother explaining, she activated her helmet radio.

“South, what’s your status?” There was silence for a few moments before the other woman spoke.

“Good to hear you finally woke up Boss.” So she was fine, Texas rolled her eyes fondly, she knew South cared more than she let on.

“Did you find anything?” There was a sigh on the other end of the radio.

“Yeah, the computer systems are old as hell but the rouges did manage to store something on there. Only problem, it’s heavily encrypted.” So it’s a York job.

“Good job South, meet us at extraction.” She didn’t wait for the agent to reply, she motioned for Wash to follow her.

“Ma’am are you sure you’re okay?” She didn’t answer him, the adrenalin had worn off making it painful to move her shoulder; ‘definitely bruised.’ She thought to herself, but they couldn’t wait any longer – the people who killed the rogues would be back and she didn’t want to see what would happen if they didn’t get away before then. The walk back was a long one and South was already waiting near the ramp when they got there, rolling one of the shotgun shells in her hand.

“Took you long enough, the Director’s already called twice.” Texas rolled her eyes fondly, the man worried about her too much, though it’s to be expected after everything that happened.

“Whatever you say South.” She stepped into the pelican and heard the ramp lock into place as she took the gunner seat.

“How was the party?” Four Seven Niner asked once the pelican took off, Texas snorted.

“Boring.” It was better to joke about it than think about the what ifs, besides she hadn’t exactly lied, the only interesting thing to happen was the mysterious figure and she doubted Four Seven would know anything.

“Boring’s good right?” Texas just shrugged, she had a point, boring meant a lower chance of winding up in medical. Safer? Maybe, but if she was being honest, none of them could take boring missions all the time.

“I guess.” The rest of the flight lasted in silence, something was bugging Texas, who killed the rogues? And why? Surely you wouldn’t kill someone who could’ve given you valuable information, it made no sense, and what about that mark? There was something familiar about it but she couldn’t remember when she’d seen it before.

“Boss, we’re back.” Texas snapped out of her thoughts and met the others at the hangar entrance, Wash offered to take their guns back to the armoury, the other two didn’t argue they knew Wash liked to be helpful around the ship.

“You alright Boss?” She was starting to get tired of answering that question.

“Yeah, just distracted.” She could tell South had raised an eyebrow even without being able to see her face, the shorter Dakota was more observant than people gave her credit for.

“Seriously it’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” Until she knew for sure what was going on it was pointless involving South in anything, pointless involving any of them.

“C’mon, we have to debrief at some point.” She didn’t check if South was following her, they all knew that debrief was unavoidable unless they were too injured to stand. Wash was already waiting for them outside the door.

“Ready when you are Ma’am.” The three of them walked in, standing at attention on one side of the desk, the Director put the file he was looking at down.

“Agents, I trust the mission was a success.” The Director already had the information about the mission yet he still preferred to hear it face-to-face.

“We found the rogue squadron, but they were already dead.” She described what they found; the Director’s expression growing more troubled at each word. South placed the data card on the table once Texas had finished.

“Counsellor, give this to Agent York, let him know I want in decrypted as soon as possible.” The Counsellor nodded and left with the card, the Director returned his attention to them.

“Thank you agents, you are dismissed.” They were about to leave before he spoke again.

“Agent Texas, a word.” She motioned for the other two to leave. The Director waited for the door to close before dropping his mask.

“You weren’t hurt too badly were you?” She removed her helmet and shook her head.

“Just some bruising, I’ll get it checked when we finish here.” He nodded, taking a few moments to consider his next words.

“You mentioned a symbol.” She described the brand to him and saw recognition in his eyes.

“We’ve seen that mark before, but where?” She furrowed her brow; she’d been asking herself that since she’d seen it. A memory flashed in her mind, two sets of Golden eyes, jaded even when she met them, her eyes widened with realisation.

“The Lockwoods.” She remembered they had the mark tattooed on their left palms, she’d never thought to ask what it meant before they died, perhaps she should have.

“It seems our old friends were involved with something far darker than anything we’ve come across.”


	5. Chapter 4 - A New Threat Emerges

She went to medical after he dismissed her, she had promised Wash she’d get her shoulder checked, she couldn’t get his last sentence out of her head.

“I knew that boy was no good.” It didn’t make any sense, Anderson’s parents had died when he was thirteen, surely the system would’ve kept him away from whatever his parents had been involved with. Was there even a link? The Lockwoods had been good people; they’d looked after Carolina often enough when she and Leonard were too bogged down with work. Their son had been a good child, respectful and polite even at a young age, she didn’t know if that was still true, the last time she saw him he barely came up to her knees. The sound of the doctor returning snapped her out of her thoughts.

“You have some bruising, I’d advise light duties at most until it heals.” Normally this kind of news would frustrate her but now she had something to occupy her mind with, she nodded to the doctor and headed to her room.

“It doesn’t make any sense.” Why would the Lockwoods get involved with something like this? She didn’t know what exactly the symbol meant, but it couldn’t be anything good if it was part of the murder scene. She pulled off her helmet and ran an armoured hand through her hair; did she know the Lockwoods at all? Had they really been good people? Did they even know what they were a part of? She breathed out a frustrated sigh, the only one who might have answers could be anywhere in America, he’d be in his twenties now, probably long since buried the memory of his parents and whatever he may have known about that symbol.

“What happened to you Anderson?” She rubbed her eyes and considered going to sleep when there was a knock at her door, she sighed and replaced her helmet. York was stood there; helmet tucked under his arm, his expression was serious.

“I’ve decrypted the data card Ma’am; the Director’s called the team to the briefing room.” She furrowed her brow; she didn’t like how this day was going so far. She followed York in silence; half-formed ideas wouldn’t help at this stage. The others were already gathered, holding hushed conversations that quietened when they entered.

“Now that everyone is here we can play the file.” Price’s calm tone was unnerving, it always was, but the man was trustworthy:

**The file showed the five rogues standing in the room they’d been found in, their weapons lay carelessly in a heap in one corner.**

**“They should’ve been here by now.”**

**“Patience, they’ll get here when they get here.” The leader reprimanded, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall. A series of knocks came from the door.**

**“In here.” The leader called out, five figures walked in – one in blue, one in red, another in purple, the fourth in orange and the final figure in light purple – it was the blue one who spoke.**

**“You have the files with you?” The leader handed it over without another word.**

**“Your leader will like what’s on there.” The blue figure nodded before pulling a pistol from their thigh.**

**“Your services are no longer required.” The bullet tore through the leader’s knee, sending the man to the floor.**

**“What’s the big deal? You said we could help each other, that you needed us.” The red figure scoffed.**

**“We only needed the file, what use do we have for a UNSC lapdog like you. You’d be torn apart the second our Boss laid eyes on you.” He pulled a flamethrower from his back.**

**“Dragon quit toying with them.” The purple figure tore a rusty pole from the wall, laughing as she tightened her hold.**

**“Would both of you shut up.” The orange one loaded his rifle.**

**“Aaw come on Sabertooth, we just want to have some fun.” The final figure laughed as he raised his energy swod.**

**“Get them!” The rogue leader yelled as he scrambled to his feet. The figure with the energy sword laughed again as he sliced halfway through one rogue’s arm before wrenching it from its socket, the soldier let out an inhumane scream before the sword stabbed into his heart.**

**“NO!” One rogue yelled before a sniper bullet tore through the chords holding the storage crate above his head, the crate crushing his body as it fell.**

**“Why are you doing this?” One whimpered out as the hand holding his knife shook.**

**“We have our orders.” The purple one snarled, ramming the pole into his chest, she attempted to pull it out only for the end of it to catch on the fresh hole in the wall, the soldier’s organ tissue clinging to the stained metal.**

**“You’re monsters.” The other rogue was kicked into a chair just as the flamethrower activated melting armour and skin to the seat.**

**“You have no idea kid.” There was an obvious smile in Dragon’s voice. The leader raised a pistol only for the blue figure to twist it out of his hand.**

**“I’ll kill you; I’ll kill all of you!” He yelled as he slumped against the table. The blue figure sheathed his pistol and picked up a rusted gravity hammer.**

**“No, you won’t.” The figure slammed it against the leader’s head, an audible crack sounded as his head was crushed against the table.**

**“Brutal Boss.” Dragon praised as the blue figure wiped some blood off the hammer.**

**“Brand the wall, Evolution could still use this place.” The two purple figures approached with a large chunk of metal, Dragon heating it up until it was too bright to look at, the figures slamming it against the wall.**

**“Leave the bodies here. A good reminder of what happens to people who oppose us.” The blue figure was about to walk out of the room.**

**“You think Chicago and his girl’ll see it?” The leader halted.**

**“Oh they will, it’s going to happen to their little crew after all.” The five of them laughed before leaving, the bloodied hammer hefted over blue’s shoulder.**

“They weren’t gone long before we arrived.” South realised.

“No, Texas was hit by a gravity hammer by those people she was chasing.” An unnerving silence engulfed the room.

“Wait. Who’s Chicago?” Allison and Leonard exchanged glances, oh no.

“I think I know who it is.”


	6. Info

Hi guys, if you're reading this then you were probably hoping to read chapter five, there is no chapter five. When I started this series it was originally meant to be following this idea that Carolina was never part of Project Freelancer, so it would be following another group of characters.

So, why did I start writing about the Freelancers?

I wanted to write something that would give you guys an idea about certain things in this series:

. York was initially going to be the field leader but I changed it to Texas last second.

. Allison and Texas were originally going to be separate characters - this was changed as Texas was only created due to Allison's death.

. The rogue squadron is a reference to the insurrectionists.

. The only reason I didn't include the AIs is because I don't know how to write their characters.

. I was originally going to make this fic longer but I can't think of any other way to introduce the next part of the series.

. As mentioned at the start, the cover work was created by DesertWolf27 who has agreed to make the chapter covers for the series as well as select scenes once the series finishes.

. Once the series ends I will be releasing an Extras fic which will contain pictures of individual scenes, one-shots (set before, during, or after the series), character studies and information about this AU as a whole.

Thank you for reading and I hope you will all enjoy  _Those the War Forgot - Arc Two: Honor-Guard._


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